Contents

In this episode, Barney, Marshall, and Lily criticize Ted for overthinking what he's about to do rather than acting by the seat of his pants. They convince Ted to take five shots of 'Red Dragon' (a special blend by Carl that resembles blood, causing Ted to state Marshall's theory that Carl is a vampire); Ted claims that he can still function cognitively even under the influence of the alcohol, but shortly afterwards he blacks out. He wakes up the next morning with a girl he doesn't remember beside him in bed, a pineapple on his nightstand, and a sprained ankle. He also finds out that his coat has been partially burnt. Ted asks Marshall and Lily about the night, and Marshall and Lily tell him that he sang along with the jukebox in the bar while standing on a table. He also was talking on the phone with Robin while he was singing. He fell off the table (explaining the sprained ankle), and Marshall and Lily took him up to his bed. However, they do not know why there is a girl on the bed and why there is a pineapple on Ted's nightstand, and the reason his coat was burned. Ted calls Barney, thinking that he might know what had happened.

After finding Barney in the tub, Ted asks him about the night, and Barney tells Ted that he lit Ted's jacket on fire because Ted called Robin. Barney then tells Ted that after some more fun, he put Ted back into bed. Ted then finds that someone wrote on his arm, saying to call the number if Ted was found passed out somewhere. Ted calls the number, and finds out it belongs to the bartender, Carl. Carl tells Ted that he went to the bathroom to vomit (ending Ted's "vomit-free since '93" streak), and then told him the meaning of the word karaoke and that he wanted to go see some penguins at the zoo, but he had to make one more call first. Based on this information, Marshall, Lily, and Barney believe that the mysterious girl in Ted's bed is actually Robin, but as Ted goes to wake the girl up, Robin calls.

The girl in bed, Trudy, wakes up, and explains her side of the story, telling Ted that he did not vomit after all, and that she exchanged numbers with him in the ladies' room of the bar. Ted also called her in the ladies room so later, when Ted wanted to call Robin, he hits redial on his phone and mistakenly calls Trudy.

Ted tells Trudy to hide when Robin comes over to talk, and Trudy leaves via the fire escape before Ted can show her to Robin to prove that he has moved on. In the end, Ted eventually pieces his night together (except for the mysterious pineapple).

Lily jokingly insults Barney and lifts her hand for a high five. In response, Barney shakes his head and doesn't high-five her. This exchange recalls a moment in the Pilot when Barney makes an inappropriate comment and Lily shakes her head instead of high-fiving him.

Marshall insists that Carl is a vampire. His belief in the paranormal was first referenced in Matchmaker.

In Game Night, an upset Marshall points out that Ted lied about being "vomit-free since '93", after Ted tells the "Story of the Re-Return" and how he threw up on Robin's doormat after the events of the Pilot.

Future Ted says he left Trudy a message and she never called him back. In Third Wheel, Ted says he wishes he had called her. However it is possible that he confused the memory since he was very hung over the morning after.

Marshall's line, "Oh, bad idea jeans!" refers to a Saturday Night Live skit of the same title in which wearers of the jeans announce that they will do something that others would advise them not to do.

During Ted's "Hazy Memory" sequence, you can vaguely hear a sound similar to that made by the TARDIS from Doctor Who. The graphics of the sequence are also vaguely reminiscent of the time vortex from that show.

In the first scene when Ted says "Where is Thurston Howell taking you" he is referring to Thurston Howell III (The Millionaire) from Gilligan's Island.

Carter Bays later admitted he learned a lesson from this episode to not write themselves into a corner. The line "we never found out where the pineapple came from" was something they never should have said.[1]

The pineapple was set to make a re-appearance in Season 9, but is only mentioned in dialogue. Alyson Hannigan explained via Twitter that the resolution of the pineapple's origin was cut from an episode due to time constraints.[2] The deleted scene was released exclusively to BuzzFeed, and takes place during the events of Daisy. It reveals that a drunken Ted had found the pineapple outside of the Captain's townhouse at the time of The Pinapple Incident.